STURIONIDE^E. 285 



from all communication with the sea by the falls of Niagara, and even the sturgeon 

 of Lake Ontario do not perhaps descend the St. Lawrence, as I have no notices of 

 their having been taken in the lower parts of that river. La Hontan says " the 

 lake sturgeons are commonly five or six feet long, but I once saw one of ten feet, 

 and another of twelve. They are caught by the savages Avith nets in the winter 

 and grapples in the summer." August is termed the sturgeon month by the Cana- 

 dian Indians, on account of the productiveness of the fishery at that period. Carver 

 states that sturgeon of excellent quality may be taken in Lake Superior at almost 

 all seasons of the year, but whether they are of the same species with the ruddy 

 sturgeon Ave have no means of judging. The latter is remarkable for wanting the 

 abdominal shields, agreeing in this respect Avith the A. nudiventris of Lake Aral, 

 Avhich Professor Lovetsky considers to be a variety of A. schipa. This author 

 refers A. rubicundus to the sub-genus sturio, in Avhich the shields are remote and 

 the opake snout is protected by strong bony plates. It is described by M. Le 

 Sueur as having 



A yellowish-red colour on the back, and olivaceous-red on the sides. Its head, which forms 

 one-eighth of the total length, is flat above with a roundish snout, having its four barbels 

 nearer to its tip than to the mouth. The breadth at the eyes is equal to the distance from 

 thence to the end of the snout, which in a fish four feet long is only three inches. The dorsal 

 ridge is much elevated at its junction with the nape. There are nine dorsal shields and thirty- 

 five lozenge-shaped lateral ones. Fins. — P. 50; V. 28; A. 22; D. 42. (Le Sueur, I. c.) 



[118.] Chim/era. Elephant fish. 



Elephant fish. Vancouver. 



The chimcercB, though placed by Cuvier at the end of the sturionidece, seem to 

 belong more properly to his second order of chondropterygn, in Avhich the gills are 

 fixed, for though there is only one apparent gill-opening on each side, the gills in 

 reality adhere by a large part of their borders, and there are consequently five holes 

 communicating Avith the external gill-opening. They have, moreover, a great 

 resemblance to the sharks in their general form and the position of their fins. 

 They have a rudimentary operculum concealed by the skin, and their jaAvs, still more 

 reduced than those of the sharks, are furnished Avith hard plates, four above nnd 

 two below, in place of teeth. The projecting snout is marked Avith rows of pores. 

 The males are distinguished by trifid bony appendages to the ventrals, and they 



